36 N. Moore Street loft sells with half million dollar renovation

no idea what it cost; but that’s the value added

These are not perfect comps for each other, by any means, but they are close neighbors of similar size and utility: the “1,800 sq ft” Manhattan #2W at 36 N. Moore Street just sold for $2.475mm, while the “1,700 sq ft” loft #4E at 34 N. Moore Street (in the same coop; one is East, one is West, get it?) sold in November at $1.9mm. Apart from 100 sq ft and 2 flights up toward better light, these neighbors have similar Long-and-Narrow footprints (#2W here; #4E here), with 2 windows in front (along with the elevator) and 3 in back, with plumbing along only one long wall and the kitchen opposite the public stairwell leaving room for an interior den or media room, and the two bedrooms in back. Loft #4E has but a single bathroom ((a second can be added), but that won’t account for $575,000 in value (neither will the ‘extra’ 100 sq ft).
 

As you’d guess even without the headline, loft #2W was a triple mint, “exquisitely” renovated loft; the poorer relation next door at #4E was rather … er … dated. Assuming the sizes in our data-base are accurate (ha!), on a dollar-per-foot basis the $575,000 spread is $257/ft, or a 23% premium in favor of #2W (#4E at $1,375/ft, #2W at $1,118/ft). For those of you who think you could do a triple mint renovation for $257/ft, take heart! Or, work closely with your contractor, as that is what it appears The Market value of such a renovation in prime Tribeca is.
 

Seems to me as though $257/ft understates the difference between these neighboring lofts, especially considering they closed 8 months apart. There’s a loft of enthusiastic babbling about the nicer one:
 

Triple mint, exquisitely renovated …. ample room for a third (interior) bedroom, den or home office, now stylishly and cleverly configured with folding lacquer doors. … A complete and total high end renovation was completed with the finest grade of appliances, lighting, flooring, and built- ins, enumerated below. … custom Poliform closets…. kitchen boasts a generous Silestone island and countertops, porcelain backsplash and floor, and Stainless steel appliances, including a Sub Zero refrigerator, Miele dishwasher, and built in wine storage. Both baths feature radiant heating from the marble (guest) and porcelain (master) tiled floors, and Silestone is again used for the vanity tops. … four zone central AC and base board heating, W/D, Brazilian cherry hardwood flooring, Italian custom lighting fixtures, and an alarm system.

In pointed contrast, the other one is in an “Authentic loft building”, has a “Spacious” kitchen and “Gracious Ceiling Height”. There are but two listing photos for #4E, one showing the kind of kitchen cabinets common to basic residential loft conversions of the 1980s. One can only imagine the finishes of the (single) bath. That floor plan shows rather quirky back bedrooms, one a bowling alley with a curved wall and a closet in the middle, the other merely conventionally large with an odd run of angled closets.

I saw that one with buyers, but just don’t remember much about it other than that it was viewed as a do-over unit. One could live there as-is, but no one who paid close to $2mm would. I don’t remember the light from the 4th floor here, mid-block between Varick and Hudson, but there’s only a 6-story unit across the street that, depending on angles, may mean the 4th floor gets much better light than the 2nd.

On the one hand, (the theoretically larger) #2W got $575,000 more than #4E 8 months earlier; on the other hand, that was only $257/ft (in theory). I’d love to know what they paid to get all the mints into #2W, but it is hard to see how they could have done it for much less than $257/ft, and they very possibly spent more than that $462,600.

Mark me down as puzzled by The Market reaction.

© Sandy Mattingly 2013